A hiker named Ertug Ergun (look it up) was lost in the vicinity of Stonyvale picnic area on June 17, 2012. No one knows where he was headed, but Fox-Condor is one possibility, so peer over the edge on some of those precipices and see if you can find him. We and Search & Rescue have covered the river and stone and grizzly flat trails pretty well, but the trail to Fox is in the worst shape.

We descended the trail from Condor via Fox after the Station Fire and it is passable but there are several bad washouts, especially between miles 3 and 5 (the markers burned). One is within 1/4 mile of the spring around 3 miles up and is a 20 ft wide and 10 ft deep notch in the trail. There are several others not as wide and look somewhat OK but are much more dangerous slide hazards where you could fall a long way. Be very careful until the trail can be worked on. S&R put some men on the trail about 2.5 miles up, but they didn't hike up to the worst parts of the trail, which are past that spring.

We need to know if the attention should focus to the 5 canyoneering trade routes on Lukens.

Ertug Ergun lost at Stonyvale

It appears he is not a canyoneer. He arrived at about 8:30, contrary to some earlier reports (just spoke to a guy at S&R about this) so it's more likely he went on one of the trails. no he didn't leave an itinerary.
some S&R people were dropped at condor today around 9 to walk down from the peak, and we are going to look up Grizzly flat trail for the second time tomorrow.
people have been all over the canyon and the stone trail. I think fox is more likely at this point, but will have a more thorough look around griz flat tomorrow. call me at 818-352-7595 if anyone decides they want to join us tomorrow.

Ertug Ergun lost at Stonyvale

I am Ertug's boss and have known him for about 7 years both in Turkey and in California for the last two years. He is not especially adventurous, and I would not have expceted him to be far from known and fairly easy trails.
There was no indications from his car that he changed into hiking boots or that he had brought food along etc. He had some survival skills having spent 6 months military training with the special forces as a conscript in Turkey.
We know from his car GPS that he arrived at the site at 8:23am on 17th, having driven straight from Bakersfield.
His cell phone was last 'seen' by the Pasadena tower at about 2pm on 17th. As I understand it, this tower does not 'see' into the valley so it may suggest that he was at or near the top of one of the higher hills in the area. Any info call Jim Hussey on 661 330 4130

Ertug Ergun lost at Stonyvale

I have been out looking.

Last Sunday and today

I saw no sign anyone has been in either places in some time

I have as the other forum members well know, hiked the Stone Cyn Trail for many years, having summited Mt Lukens now 1040+ times

I have also maintained the Stone Cyn trail for 15 years or so

I met both SAR teams on Saturday and Sunday last week and they thoroughly checked stone canyon trail and the unnamed canyon we call Stone+1

We discovered his body in Vasquez creek about 2/3 of the way down, below 4 or 5 waterfalls that one usually needs to use a rope to descend safely and above the last two waterfalls which absolutely need a rope to descend safely. He was missing one shoe and his glasses. May he rest in peace.

After experiencing the nightmare of brush that Grizzly Flat trail has become, we believe the most likely scenario is he went up the Stone Canyon trail which is in great shape and came down Grizzly Flat trail, not realizing the GF trail is almost impossible to find if you don't know where to look w/o a gps track. Once in Grizzly Flat, going down to Vasquez creek seems most reasonable, and is also maybe a good choice when one is out of water, but descending waterfalls you can't climb up is a very dangerous idea.

Re: found

Hi, I am an old friend of Ertug, currently based in United Kingdom. I became aware and was following the developments since 5 days. First of all thank you very much for your search and rescue efforts. Probably more details about this incident will be given to his family via the police and I can learn afterwards but if you could reply briefly to few questions that I have, I will be grateful.

As his boss has mentioned before few messages back, Ertug cannot be considered as a hiker and it is unlikely that he had the necessary equipment with him. He wouldn't walk/hike too long in the first place, it is not his character.

He is a very rational, logical person and taking the risk of descending through these dangerous routes is unexpected from him. Do you think that he got lost and got really desperate? Is it possible to rule out any wild animal attack or human involvement?

Also, could you please tell me if cell phones have signal across the routes that you considered that he has taken? Or have you found his cell phone with him? His phone has GPS but I understand it is useless without using a pre-saved GPS track as these routes are particularly difficult to find.

Once again thank you very much to you and all the people involved in search and rescue efforts.
Umut

We discovered his body in Vasquez creek about 2/3 of the way down, below 4 or 5 waterfalls that one usually needs to use a rope to descend safely and above the last two waterfalls which absolutely need a rope to descend safely. He was missing one shoe and his glasses. May he rest in peace.

After experiencing the nightmare of brush that Grizzly Flat trail has become, we believe the most likely scenario is he went up the Stone Canyon trail which is in great shape and came down Grizzly Flat trail, not realizing the GF trail is almost impossible to find if you don't know where to look w/o a gps track. Once in Grizzly Flat, going down to Vasquez creek seems most reasonable, and is also maybe a good choice when one is out of water, but descending waterfalls you can't climb up is a very dangerous idea.

Ertug Ergun lost at Stonyvale

His parents and relatives back in Turkey and the guys he worked with here in California and Australia would like to thank all of you volunteers and professionals who have looked tirelessly for him ovr the last two weeks.

Also, could you please tell me if cell phones have signal across the routes that you considered that he has taken? Or have you found his cell phone with him? His phone has GPS but I understand it is useless without using a pre-saved GPS track as these routes are particularly difficult to find.

In part there is celluar service along the top of Mt Lukens in places. But the area where he was found definitely has no cell service

I wouldn't say the GPS is useless without a pre-saved track but it requires experience